Crimes related to retail establishments represent a serious source of loss to retailers. Although a tremendous number of shoplifters are apprehended each year, it is believed that reported occurrences of shoplifting are dwarfed by the number of undetected or unreported shoplifting events occurring each year in the United States. The cost of shoplifting is not only a significant cost for retailers, but is ultimately borne by the consumer.
Arrayed against the growth in theft is technology which has provided solutions which increase the cost or risk to the criminal perpetrators by making the perpetration of their crimes more readily detectable.
One approach to detecting shoplifting is to place a sensor which is hidden or difficult to remove on each item of merchandise. The sensors are detected at the exits of a store and assure that merchandise cannot be removed unless the merchandise is first purchased. Examples of some of the sensors which have been developed are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,357,240; 5,313,192; 5,111,186; 4,510,489; and 4,510,490. For patents to related technology see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,341,125; 5,109,217; and 4,980,670.
While it is generally desirable that the prospective thief be aware of the fact that a particular store is protected by an electronic article surveillance system, it is also desirable that the potential thief not be able to readily remove the sensor from the merchandise. In some applications this is accomplished by placing a lock on the merchandise which cannot be removed without a special key. For other types of merchandise, it is desirable that the sensor be of the disposable type which is integrally packaged with the goods. In this type of sensor it is usually desirable to hide the sensor so its location and even existence within a particular product is not readily apparent to the potential thief.
In order to cost-justify itself, the electronic surveillance sensor must be cost effectively incorporated in the packaging so the cost of preventing theft does not exceed the cost incurred by theft. Thus, as in the production of all consumer items, cost efficient manufacture is a critical objective.
With some consumer items additional problems with placing the sensor in the package result from requirements of the functionality of the sensor that it be spaced some short distance away from any metal surface in order to be detectable. The sensor should also be located where it is not likely to be crushed, as this can also interfere with its operation.